


In Between Today and Tomorrow

by IKillShipsNotPeople



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender, Criminal Minds (US TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Avatar & Benders Setting, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Behavioral Analysis Unit (Criminal Minds), Bending (Avatar), Criminal Profiling, Crossover, Earth Kingdom (Avatar), Gen, Hotch Profiles, How Do I Tag, Listen Iroh is so fun to write, Northern Water Tribe, Penguin Sledding, Profiling, Protective Aaron Hotchner, Redemption, Southern Water Tribe, Woke up in a new world, Yes we get it Hotch you’re confused, Zuko - Freeform, Zuko is an Angry TM, agressively, expect OC’s to be from multiple other fandoms, i can’t wait for actual plot
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-23
Updated: 2020-12-07
Packaged: 2021-03-10 06:21:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,185
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27688864
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IKillShipsNotPeople/pseuds/IKillShipsNotPeople
Summary: Hotch has always been too much. Too loud for his father, too headstrong for the FBI, too stubborn for Hayley. But here in a world with four elements, all of which can move, it’s hard not to feel as though for once he’s all right. With too much pressure on a group of kids , Hotch knows that they need someone to look out for them. He might just be the person they accept. Plus it means he can adopt a group of pre-teens and teenagers. You know, as you do...
Relationships: Aang & Katara (Avatar), Aang & Sokka (Avatar), Aaron Hotchner & Aang (Avatar)
Comments: 14
Kudos: 23





	1. A Long Way From Home

**Author's Note:**

> Hi everyone! Thanks for joining me on what’s sure to be an insane journey. I’ve got like two plot points plotted so far, so it’s pantsing all the way, but I really love Hotch and I really love ATLA and I was thinking about how Hotch would totally parent Zuko so now we’re here. This will be posted in increments of crazy, with occasional pov jumps to other characters when I say so. I’ve never written a fic this long, though, so expect the updates to be like Momo’s sanity: sometimes it exists. I went through the transcript for the first episode, but pretty soon we’ll be cannon diverging like it’s airball (a sport!). If a character seems OOC, tell me. I might do something, but I might not… At some point, I hope they’ll start relying on Hotch because dad figures all the way. Yes I have issues. And? Anyway, I’m trying to make the characters as true to anime, but we’re giving Zuko and Azula redemption arcs because of course we are. A profiler would be able to help them, and that’s what they deserve.  
> If you’re here from Criminal Minds and you don’t watch Avatar: The Last Airbender, you should know that while Hotch gets a brief rundown, I’m going to assume that you have watched the show and therefore know a little about certain things (mostly what things look like, cause I’m crap at describing). Still, people will generally explain things to Hotch, so you should be able to follow along if you want to.  
> If you’re here from ATLA, and therefore don’t know who Hotch is, I’ll give you a brief rundown. Basically, Aaron “Hotch” Hotchner is a criminal profiler. He works for the Behavioral Analysis Unit , as their leader and co-worker. His job, along with the rest of the team, is to look at crime scenes and try to analyse what kind of person would do it. This translates well to having skills like psychology, a calming presence towards people, and empathy. He needs to be able to look at a dead body, or the place where they died, and figure out what happened there. He does this by trying to empathise with the killer. Hotch himself is a father, and a natural leader. He’s generally stoic and quiet, and when he is angry he tends to run very hot. He’s also solid and dependable, so I’m making him an earthbender. I can’t really think much more about him, but know that he’s dangerous, though most of the time he’s kind.  
> If you like this, please feel free to leave a comment or a kudos and I will adore you and/or chat with you.  
> Happy reading!  
> Trigger warning for the chapter: mentions of knives and mentions of guns.  
> There’s no direct mention of paranoia, but when you hunt serial killers for a living you tend to run a little careful. I assume.

“A moment’s beginning ends in a moment.”

-Munia Khan

_ With each moment, a new infinity of multiverses open up _ . It’s odd, the idea that pops into Aaron Hotchner’s brain as he stands with his ready bag, phone in hand, looking at his wife. Thinking about his son.

In one universe, he stays, in another, he apologizes as he runs out the door to the airport. In another, in this one, he kisses Jack on the head the way he always has, and makes his way to Emily’s house.

When he gets back, the house is empty. He goes through the same motions that he always does after a case, taking off his suit, putting his guns in his safe, grabbing the knife out of the same safe and putting it next to where he sleeps. He’s got too many demons not to know how to fight them. He cries himself to sleep, hugging into the pillow and hoping beyond hope that he’ll hear his son in the room next to him. The silence is too loud.

As he wakes up, he notices he’s cold. He shivers, frozen in an iceberg that’s breaking before his eyes. He looks around to see a small kid, with strange tattoos, and a furry animal like nothing he’s ever seen before. He falls to an icy ground with an oof, and barely manages to turn his head to look at the kid. The kid who’s… flying? Hotch notices a lot. Most of it, his brain filters out because it’s not important. He filtered Hayley’s phone calls two days ago, because he’s used to it. He keeps the important things. Naturally, this means that he notices the way the air under the kid is pushing Hotch down even as it pushes the kid up. Which means the kid’s probably controlling the air. What?

He manages not to look surprised only because of years of practice with Reid’s “physics magic”, unsubs trying to catch him off guard, and a son back at home. Instead, he pushes himself to his feet, only realizing then that he’s in his suit. Odd, because he definitely fell asleep in just a t-shirt and boxers.

He checks his holsters, but his guns are missing. Fuck. He never goes anywhere without his guns. Take stock. He could be a hostage, or this could be some elaborate game that an unsub is playing. He looks around, sees nothing but ocean and ice, and a pair of kids standing on an iceberg. Great. Also probably not a game, but he can’t rule anything out.

“Hello?” he asks.

“Hi,” says the flying kid brightly. “My name’s Aang!”

That’s… an odd name.

“My friends call me Hotch,” he says with a small smile, because this kid can’t be more than 13, which is too young for a tattoo like the one on his forehead, but he’s got the eyes of a victim.

“That’s... an odd name,” says Aang. Hotch raises an eyebrow.

“What are you doing here?” asks one of the other kids, a boy. He looks like he’s maybe 15, and his hair’s pulled back in a ponytail that would make Penelope Garcia vomit. The girl next to him is younger, and she smiles a bit, before shoving the boy.

“Hi, my name is-”

“Katara! Don’t tell them your name. They could be Fire Nation spies,” says the boy, shoving him back. Katara, the girl, stares at him for a second. He sighs. “Right.”

“We’re not Fire Nation!” says Aang, and he raises his head. He’s somehow sitting up on the top of the huge furry thing. He looks at Hotch. “Well, I’m not fire nation. I don’t know who he is.”

Hotch is officially confused. He’s never been accused of being “fire nation”, but it seems like a bad thing to all of the kids. “I don’t… think I am?”

“You don’t think so, huh?” asks the boy next to Katara. He turns to her. “Be careful. I  _ don’t think _ we can trust him.”

The boy is probably Katara’s brother, or at least a close friend. Hotch stands still for a second, and raises his own hands. He considers his options. “Hey, I’m not here to hurt you. I’m not fire nation.”

The boy raises his sword thing. “Then where are you from?”

Hotch guesses he doesn’t mean Stauntun, Virginia. Because he’s fairly sure he’s literally in another world.

“I’m… confused,” he replies honestly. Katara’s face softens. So does her brother’s.

“Let’s get back to the village, I’m sure Gran-gran’s waiting,” she says. “You two can come too.”

He notices the fact that she didn’t mention parents, but just follows gratefully into the canoe.

Katara’s brother-or-friend raises a hand. “My name’s Sokka,” he says. “I don’t think this canoe can hold three people.” He shoots a look at Katara. “I don’t know if it can hold two people!”

“Appa can!” says Aang, gesturing to the furry head that he’s sitting on. “Here, climb on!”

“I’m fine in the canoe, Sokka, but Hotch can go with Aang.” Katara’s got tired eyes too. 

“A-aaa- Achoooo!” sneezes Aang. He flies high into the air, and settles back onto Appa.

“You just flew 10 feet in the air!” says Katara. “You’re an airbender!”

“Sure am!” Aang’s exited voice doesn’t change, but Sokka and Katara gape at him. Aang reaches a hand down to Hotch. Instead, Hotch holds his hand out to the… creature, like he’s a dog. A very large dog. A very large dog that Hotch is in no way afraid of.

“Hey buddy,” he says, like he is talking to Clooney the few times Morgan brought him in. Appa’s mouth opens, and he licks at Hotch’s hand. The trouble is, Appa’s tongue is huge, and it blasts him backwards. He barely manages to keep his footing on the ice, especially in dress shoes, and stumbles forward.

Aang laughs delightedly. “He likes you!”

He falls into Appa’s side, and grabs a couple handfuls of hair. It takes a second, and a lot of his climbing abilities, but he manages to get up onto the back of the animal. There’s a large bowl-like thing, and he climbs into it.

“Appa, yip-yip,” says Aang, and the beast takes off swimming. They follow behind the canoe for a bit, and Hotch begins to ask questions.

“So Aang,” he says. “How are you doing that air movement stuff?”

“I’m an airbender,” says Aang, grinning at him.

“An airbender?” he asks. “So you can control the air?”

That sounds like something out of a story he’d read to Jack, but the kid in front of him is nodding like it’s obvious.

“Are you a bender?” he asks.

“I don’t think so,” he says. “But like I said, I’m confused.”

“How do you just not know?” asks Aang. “I have friends in all of the nations. Kuzon, one of my friends, says that there’s a fire burning in him all the time. He’s a firebender.”

“That’s… odd.”

“Non-benders don’t have that, of course, so you could be a non-bender.” Aang’s eyes are kind, he notices, but they still look like he’s a victim. What do his eyes say about him? That he’s tired, probably.

“That would make sense.”

By the time they reach the village, Hotch has a pretty good idea of what this world’s all about. There are four elements, fire, water, earth, and air, and some people can bend them. Aang is an airbender, and he’s got tattoos and the bald head because he’s a master airbender. He’s also 12, but “I turn 13 this summer!” There are martial arts moves that you can use to increase your power, but most -benders can control their element at least a little bit without it. Hotch only knows about taekwondo, which Prentiss demonstrates from time to time, and a bit of kung fu, from a case. Naturally, Reid had described the motions, but let Morgan and Prentiss demonstrate. He’d seen them done, apparently, but he’d never tried them himself.

It’s easy enough to fall into a conversation with Aang about the airbenders that are his family, though he doesn’t mention why he left them or how he ended up here. Which is the South Pole, apparently. He’ll talk to Sokka and Katara about that soon, just to make sure. Aang shows him a map, too, which does indicate a “Southern Water Tribe” settlement on the south pole, as well as another blob of blue on the north. Aang shows him all the places that he’s been, which is mostly just the green Earth Kingdom and the red Fire Nation, as well as the yellow air temples. He’s met a couple of water tribe people, but they lived in the earth kingdom. Huh.

When they reach the Water Tribe village, he slides off of Appa as though he’s used to it, and it feels like getting off the plane to go to a case. Of course, this time he won’t have to look at dead bodies, talk to traumatized witnesses and families, or go through file after file on each person who fits the profile. Which is a good thing. Except for the fact that he’s stuck in another world.

Hotch has always been a realist. Aaron, sometimes, on the days when he felt like a whole other person from Hotch, is an optimist, but Hotch is a realist. He looks at the entire thirty people who have come to greet them, and the fact that Sokka is the oldest guy there, and realizes that something happened to these people. Maybe it’s still happening.

Aang doesn’t appear to make the same realization. Instead, the bubbly kid just introduces himself and Hotch, and says hi.

The others, a bit shocked by at least one of them, say hi back.

“I’m an airbender,” says Aang. “Hotch is a non-bender.”

“An airbender?” asks a kid. His eyes have grown wide. Hotch feels a pang for his son. This kid couldn’t be older than 4. “There are no airbenders!”

“What?” asks Aang. His panicked eyes meet Hotch’s, who resists the urge to shrug.

“I’m sorry Aang,” says Katara. “It’s just… we haven’t seen an airbender in 100 years!”

The old lady next to them nods. “We thought you were extinct, until my grandchildren found you.”

“Extinct?” shouts Aang.

“Aang, this is my grandmother,” says Katara.

“Call me Gran-gran.”

Sokka grabs Aang’s staff, and Aang grabs it back. “This is my glider!”

“What kind of weapon is this? You can’t stab anything!”

Aang opens it up, and a fan pops out the top and the bottom of it. “It’s for flying, silly.”

Aang flies around on the thing for a few seconds, but crashes into a snowy tower. Sokka shouts at him, but Aang and Katara just laugh.

“And who is your other friend?” asks Gran-gran, looking at him.

“His name is Hotch,” says Aang.

“Actually, my name is Aaron. My friends call me Hotch, so you can do that,” says Aaron, smiling at them. Gran-gran blinks suspiciously at him.

“Call me Kanna,” she says. “Where are you from?”

“This is going to sound… odd,” he warns. Kanna rolls her eyes.

“I just met an airbender,” she says. “Try me.”

“I think I’m from another world,” says Hotch.

  
“All things are difficult before they are easy.”

-Thomas Fuller


	2. In a Little Hut on the South Pole

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A consensus is reached on an important decision.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We’re doing bookend quotes now, because I said so. Also because Criminal Mind vibes. If you have any quotes, tell me, and I’ll try to work them in because I love audience participation. I added them into the first chapter, and there are some in this chapter too! I’m on break this week, so there might be more chapters now than usual, though no promises. I have a basic idea for like the next few chapters, but soon we’re getting into filler episodes, so that’ll be like one chapter for all of the fillers. This chapter focuses on the second half of the first episode, though, so a lot of the dialogue is similar or the same as the show. I also updated the summary because I didn’t like the old one, and I’m not sure if I’ll make Hotch an earthbender yet. I’ll figure it out as we go along…  
> Trigger warnings: discussion of guns, knives, war, and Hotch thinks a bit about abandonment issues.

“An idea that is developed and put into action is more important than an idea that exists only as an idea.”

-Buddha

Naturally, Kanna just stares at him for a second, before walking into a hut. She walks out with a blue coat, like the ones that the villagers are wearing, and hands it to him.

“This is one of my son’s old anoraks. It should fit you.”

“Thanks,” he says, pulling it over his suit jacket. The thick jacket keeps him much warmer than his suit. She offers another one to Aang, but he declines the blubber filled jacket.

Kanna brings Aang, Katara, and Sokka into a hut. Hotch follows them.

“Tell me your story,” she says. Naturally, he listens.

“My name is Aaron Hotchner,” he says. These people probably don’t have an FBI or a BAU. “I’m a criminal profiler.”

He’s met with blank looks.

“I study behavior, and try to understand bad guys.”

He gets a look of slight recognition in Kanna’s face.

“I’m like the police?”

Four pairs of eyes stare at him. Sokka frowns. Aaron tries another technique. He pats his pockets, searching for his badge, but it’s not here either.

_ Well this is going to be difficult _ .

“Ya know what, ignore all that,” says Hotch. “My name is Aaron, and I’ve got a son. His name is Jack, and he’s the best thing in the world.”

“Okay,” says Sokka. His almost annoyed expression is gone, replaced with a blank face.

“Last night, I went to sleep, thinking that I’d wake up and talk to my friends. I woke up in an iceberg, with Aang,” says Hotch. This is like a briefing, except he’s the victim. “In my world, there’s no bending. People have weapons, of course, but there’s no way to move air.”

“No bending?” asks Aang. Hotch barely notices as Kanna slips out of the hut. Odd.

“That sounds lovely!” says Sokka. “No sisters with weird magic powers, no weird gone Avatar, no weird glowy lights!”

Hotch notices, so he notices Aang flinching at the word “Avatar”. However, because he doesn’t know what an Avatar is, he just says, “we have our share of weird.”

Sokka takes a deep breath. Aang looks cautiously at him, before asking Katara if she wants to go penguin sledding with him. Sokka explodes, shouting at Aaron about water powers. He notices Aang and Katara trying to sneak out of the hut.

“What are you doing? We don’t have time for penguin sledding! We’re in the middle of a war!”

“What war?” asks Aang and Hotch. Hotch turns to him, surprised. So do all three other inhabitants of the tent.

“How do you not know about the war?” asks Sokka, his voice still carrying a bit of accusation.

“Who’s fighting?” asks Aang. He looks confused, like he can’t imagine anyone fighting. He’s about twelve, though, so he shouldn’t have to.

“The fire nation,” says Katara, frowning at the ground. From her expression, Hotch would put good money on the thought that she was personally hurt by this war. Except he doesn’t bet.

“A war has two sides,” says Hotch. “Who’s fighting the Fire Nation?”

At this point, he’s just rolling with it. With everything. Aang’s explanation on the way over here was useful, and now he’s just filling in the gaps.

“No one is,” says Sokka. He grabs a map and starts pointing all over. “The Earth Kingdoms are trying, and the Air Nomads failed. The Northern Water Tribe won’t even try, and we’re not doing too well.”

“Hey, back it up!” says Aang. “I have friends all over the world, even in the Fire Nation! I’ve never even heard of this war!”

“Aang, how long were you in that iceberg?” asks Katara.

“Maybe a few days?” he says, uncertain.

“I think it might have been 100 years,” she says.

“What?” asks Aang.

“Think about it! The war is a century old, and you’ve never heard about it because, somehow, you’ve been in there the whole time.”

“Whoa,” says Aang. He sits on the ground, and puts his head in his hands. Katara reaches out and puts a hand on his shoulder. 

“I’m sorry, Aang.”

“Maybe there’s a bright side to all of this,” says Sokka.

“What?” asks Aang. He sounds more sad than Hotch has seen the kid.

“Well, now you can be my waterbending teacher!” says Katara.

“Just one problem,” says Aang. “I’m an airbender, not a waterbender. Isn’t there someone in your tribe that can teach you?”

“No,” says Katara. “I’m the only waterbender in the whole south pole.”

“I’m guessing that’s unusual?” asks Hotch. Everyone turns to him, like they’re surprised by his question.

“Of course,” says Sokka. “Gran-gran tells us stories about when she was a girl, and the tribe was filled with tons of waterbenders.”

He looks around, as if only noticing she’s not here.

“What about the Northern Tribe?” asks Aang. He’s sitting down in the middle of the hut, and Hotch joins him. “There’s another water tribe up there, right? Maybe you can learn there!”

“We haven’t had contact with our sister tribe in a long time. They’ve always ignored the raids. Plus, it’s not like it’s  _ turn left at the second glacier _ ! They’re on the other side of the world!” Katara joins them on the icy floor, and they all look at Sokka.

“Don’t look at me! I don’t need to get my butt all wet!” He still joins them on the floor.

“Anyway, Katara, the other side of the world isn’t that far! Appa and I could fly you up there!”

“I don’t know,” Katara says. “I’ve never left home before.”

Her face betrays her uncertainty, but her hands are steady on her knees.

“Come on, Katara,” says Sokka. “You’ve always wanted to learn waterbending from a real master!”

“I know,” she says. “But I can’t just leave the tribe behind! This is my home.”

“I think it’s a great idea,” says Hotch. “This is in your blood, right? And besides, I bet everyone here will be proud of you.”

“It’s everyone who’s not here who I’m worried about,” says Katara quietly.

“She’d be proud of you too, Katara,” says Sokka. Probably a mom, dead or fighting in the war, Hotch thinks. He doesn’t need to profile this village to know that they’ve only got a few people they can rely on, or that Sokka and Katara are two of them.

“So it’s settled, then?” asks Aang. “I can take you to the Northern Water Tribe to find a master!”

“I’d like to come too,” says Hotch, surprising himself. As they all turn to stare at him, he realizes that he  _ would  _ like to come. Sokka, Aang, and Katara are so young, they deserve someone over the age of 12 to watch their backs. “I don’t know what I’m doing in this world, or how I’m supposed to get back to mine. But everyone I know back in my world would hate it if I left a group of kids who look like they could use some help.”

“Hey!” says Sokka. “These two might be young, but I’m not a kid!”

“Sokka, you’re only a year older than me.”

Hotch’s heart clenches a bit as he watches Katara and Sokka bicker. It reminds him so much of Reid and Morgan, arguing playfully after a case. Aang watches with the air of JJ waiting for the perfect opportunity to make people laugh. No matter what Sokka might say, these three are kids, they don’t deserve to be fighting in a war.

Hotch tunes back into the conversation.

“I need to go train my warriors,” says Sokka. Hotch briefly wonders if Sokka is talking about the children he saw earlier. He wouldn’t exactly call them warriors.

“I’ll just go penguin-seal sledding, then,” says Aang. “Come with me, Katara!”

“Okay,” she says, smiling a bit. Hotch can hear them giggling as they go.

“I’ll just… follow you around,” says Hotch, smiling at Sokka, who nods back. It doesn’t make him as grown up as Sokka seems to think it does.

“Do you know how to use a weapon?” asks Sokka.

“Normally, I use a gun, but I don’t have mine,” he says. His holsters are missing from his belt and leg, along with the guns he always wears. Sokka looks confused. “It’s a device that fires a small piece of metal really fast.” The poor kid still looks confused. “Sometimes I use a knife?”

In fact, that knife is sitting in his pocket. What the fuck are the logistics for interworld travel where he gets his suit and his knife, but not his holsters or his badge???

“That’s something,” says Sokka. He leads Hotch over to where a group of kids (none older than five) are standing. “Now men, it’s important that you show no fear when you face a firebender. In the Water Tribe, we fight to the last man standing! For without courage, how can we call ourselves men?”

One kid blinks at him. Another raises his hand. “I gotta go pee!”

Hotch can’t help it. A grin slips onto his face. He uses all of his willpower to make sure no giggles escape him.

“Until your fathers return from the War, they’re counting on you to be the men of your tribe, and that means no potty breaks!” says Sokka. Which means that Sokka was truly the man of the tribe, at fifteen. The thought saddens him a little bit. Sokka probably feels abandoned by his father, who was probably fighting in the war.

Hotch feels a jolt. He’s seen bad people do worse things than shouting at a group of children because they felt abandoned. But Sokka is a strong person, and he isn’t homicidal. Hotch knows his profiling skills would have caught that. He watches Sokka lead all the kids to a potty break, and then back to do a simple drill. It feels more like a game of soccer than preparation for a war, but he is willing to just laugh as the penguin-seals team beats the bass-fly team.

A little bit later, as the second game begins, a bunch of fireworks shoot outside of the village, and Katara and Aang come running back with fear sketched into their faces.

“I still believe that, somehow, the Avatar will return to save the world.”

-Katara


	3. The Fire Kid

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hotch attempt to adopt a child but never learns his name. Plus there is fire!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And here we get Zuko. I was walking a fine line with Zuko and Hotch, as Hotch’s first instinct is very different from his second. Still, I hope I managed to capture them both pretty well. I hope you have a wonderful day!
> 
> Trigger warnings: that one knife, fire, firebending, Zuko’s burn (plus all kinds of trauma from it), Hotch profiles Zuko

Sokka stares at Aang. “I knew it! You’re a fire nation spy, and now you set off that flare to lead them right to us!”

“Aang didn’t do anything! It was an accident,” protests Katara. Out of the corner of his eye, Hotch sees the village start to come outside to look at all the commotion.

Aang rubs the back of his head. “Yeah. We were on the fire nation ship, and there was a booby trap. I ran right into it.”

Kanna appears from the side of the crowd even as the kids start crowding Aang. “Katara, you shouldn’t have been on that ship. Now we could all be in danger!”

“Don’t blame Katara. It was my fault,” says Aang, downcast.

“Aha, the traitor confesses! Warriors, away from the airbender,” says Sokka. To Hotch’s surprise, they all leave, if rather sadly.

“He’s not a traitor,” says Hotch. Calm and firm, like an angry unsub.

“What do you know?” asks Sokka. His face twists. “Oh right, nothing.”

Finally, Hotch feels a semblance of normal, even if this is an angry teenager instead of a dangerous unsub. “I know enough about Aang to know he’s not a threat to your village. And you know that too. Weren’t you going to leave with him? I know you feel like you need to keep everyone here safe, but not from Aang!”

“We can’t trust him,” says Sokka.

“ _ We _ already do,” says Katara, motioning at the rest of the village. Hotch looks at her. None of the team would have interrupted him profiling unless he asked them to, with a covert gesture. Still, she is right.

“Well then you’re all fools. I’m doing my duty to dad!”

“Um, guys?” asks Aang. Everyone turns away from the argument to look at him. A ship is approaching behind him, cracking the ice. Someone screams, and a little boy standing in the middle of a crack lets out a squeal. Katara reaches for him, and drops him outside a hut. He scampers inside.

Sokka has his club out, and is ready to strike the fire nation ship.

“Sokka, get out of the way,” shouts Katara. The boat pushes through the wall, and Sokka is pushed backwards. He falls down, but gets back up to stand next to Katara and Aang.

A ramp juts out from the bottom of the ship, and three figures walk out. Hotch runs his fingers over his knife, but moves so that he’s between the new people and the kids, with no weapons drawn.

“Where are you hiding him?” asks one of those figures. Oh, and the guy can’t be older than 16, with a scar too old for him covering one eye. He’s got dark hair pulled up in a ponytail, and his left foot is forward, but his right hand is at the ready, which means he was probably poorly trained out of being left handed. His shoulders are up and back, and they carry more weight than most teenagers’ should, combined with the arrogance of someone who thinks he’s in charge. He makes a sad picture of a person as hurt by the war as Aang, Katara, and Sokka have been.

“Who?” asks Hotch. This should not feel more familiar to him than sitting in a hut talking, but alas…

“The Avatar! He’d be old, master of all four elements,” says the kid. For some reason, he’s shaking Kanna. Aang lets out a breath. The kid shoots a blast of fire above Hotch’s head, but doesn’t hurt anyone. Hotch assumes it’s firebending. “I know you’re hiding him!”

“I don’t know who he is,” says Hotch. He remembers Aang’s intake of breath. Hotch catches a glimpse as Sokka moves behind him, but he holds a hand out. The kid stays back.

“I’m the avatar,” says Aang, blowing himself above Hotch. Hotch sighs, and tries to grab him down by the ankle. When that doesn’t work, Hotch just moves to be under Aang, so that he’s still the primary target for the kid. The kid who is dressed in all red and black clothing, with a large symbol of fire flying from their boat. Hotch makes an assumption. The older people next to him (and thank goodness there are still adults in this world) take steps up so that they are in line with the fire kid. Aang ignores this to smile at the fire kid. “Hi!”

“You’re the airbender? You’re the avatar?” asks the fire kid. Hotch really has to figure out his name.

The siblings behind him make surprised noises, and Hotch remembers that Sokka referred to the Avatar as weird and gone. So it’s reasonable that this is a shock, and Hotch just doesn't understand why.

“I’ve spent years waiting for this encounter. Training, meditating. You’re just a child,” says Fire Kid.

“Yeah, well you’re just a teenager,” says Aang. Really not helping. Fire kid launches fire blasts at Aang, but Hotch notices they don’t ever hit the huts of the village, just go for Aang. That level of control, to only attack his primary target? Especially as Aang was hurting the village more just redirecting the fire? Meant that the Fire Kid was very good at what he was doing, probably even lethal. Gideon (and his heart twinged even as he thought the name) might say that  _ a good shot can hit a person in the heart, a better one can hit two inches to the person’s left of the zipper on their jacket _ . Or something like that. It’s clear Fire Kid is the second option.

“A kind teenager,” says Hotch, because noticing is what he does. Well, that and taking unsubs down, but he has to notice first. Now he has to do the unsub thing.

“What?” asks the teenager. It’s echoed by the man on his left, a heavyset older man with a white beard. The man on Fire Kid’s other side looks similarly confused. Is this poor kid so outnumbered that even the people closest to him don’t believe he has good in him?

“You’ve managed to use your fire to attack Aang, while not hitting any of the buildings or the bystanders. That means you have control, and you don’t want to hurt anyone who can’t fight back, and you don’t want to hurt Aang, either. You’ve been burnt too, literally, and you’d never wish that pain onto anyone else. You’re trying to capture, not kill Aang, and you won’t let anyone else get hurt while you do.”

He can see out of the corner of his eye as Sokka’s jaw drops in shock. To be fair, he’s used to doing the impossible.

“How did you know all that?” asks the kid, fear and anger mixing in his voice. Hotch takes a calm step forward.

“I notice things.”

“I like this man,” says the man on his left, smiling a bit. “He really understands you, Nephew.”

And that’s what he’d missed, staring at the kid. Of course the teenager wouldn’t let just anyone into his blindspot, and even as he glared at the older man, he sighed a bit as if he was used to his antics. Because they were family. It seemed the kid does have someone on his side. Good, even if he is blowing fire at Aang.

Hotch thinks back to the map of the world Aang has shown him. He may not have Ried’s IQ, but he’s pretty sure the fire nation is pretty far from the South Pole. He got confirmation from Sokka, they are actually at the South Pole. Hotch wonders why it’s not colder. Either way, there’s probably a reason the kid is so far from his home.

“Listen, I get that you’re far from home, and probably a bit confused-” from everything that he’d heard about the war, he was confused too “-but there’s no reason to attack Aang,” says Hotch, calmly, stepping another foot closer to the Fire Kid. The kid takes a step back.

“You don’t get it,” shouts the fire kid. From the non-reaction of the people next to him, shouting is a pretty common occurrence. “I didn’t want to find the Avatar! I didn’t want to be on this stupid boat!”

“Then why are you?” asks Hotch, adding a threatening edge to his voice. He’s almost there. He can figure this kid out. He’s only missing one piece of the puzzle.

“Because I have to,” shouts the fire kid, shooting a blast at Hotch. Hotch dives to the ground, but Aang gets in front of him and spins his glider. Hotch is fairly certain that it’s physically impossible to stop that kind of flame with a spin of air, but he’s also certain it’s impossible to shoot fire from your fist, so that point is kinda moot. Hotch pats out a singed part of his jacket. 

“If I go with you, do you promise to leave these people alone?” asks Aang. He holds out his staff to the kid.

“Aang, you don’t have to do that,” says Katara.

“Aang, don’t you dare,” says Hotch, pulling out his * _ my agent is about to do something they’re not supposed to do and I’m the only chance of stopping them* _ voice. Aang doesn’t even bother to look. An Avatar must be a big deal, then, if Aang is acting like it’s his duty to save these people he’s only known for a few hours. His inner Reid, snarky and kind, wonders if an Avatar is like an FBI agent.

“Aren’t you going to take Katara to the North Pole?”

“Flameo,” says Aang, like it’s a swear. Hotch spares an entire second to thinking  _ what the fuck _ before he bothers to apply more pressure.

“Aang, you can’t just abandon the three of us,” he says. He thinks for a moment. “You can fight them off, right? You’re an airbender. And if the Fire Kid is going to try to catch us, at least make it hard for him.”

“Shut up!” shouts the Fire Kid. “And don’t call me Fire Kid.”

“Listen, Fire Kid. I don’t know why you think capturing a twelve-year-old boy is a good idea, but let me tell you, it is not! Capturing Aang will not solve your problem. He’s a nice kid, too. If you’d just ask him to come help you, he probably will,” says Hotch. That’s when it hits him, like a brick to the head. The difference between talking down insane people and talking down sane people is that sane people aren’t aided by compulsion. So he won’t need to use Fire Kid’s compulsion to keep him from flying off the hammer.

“Of course he will solve my problem!” shouts the kid. “He has to. It’s the only way!”

Which is interesting, but off topic. “Does he have to now? Do you need to threaten the village to do so? Or can we leave in peace?”

“Nephew,” says the old man. He appears to by trying to stabilize the Fire Kid. It doesn’t work. Uncle turns to Hotch. “The answers to your questions are no, no, and yes.”

“No they are not! I have to regain my honor!” shouts the kid. “Which means, you stupid peasant, I have to capture the Avatar. Enough talking!”

“No,” says Hotch. He pulls Aang behind him. “If you want the Avatar-dude, you’ll have to go through me.”

“I’ve been training for three years to beat the Avatar. I can beat a washed up old man!” Fire Kid was talking big talk, but he stood like he was ready for ranged combat. An even stance, but his weight was too high like he was ready to dodge an air blast but not a punch.

“Do you think Appa can get us away from here?” asks Katara quietly.

Hotch thinks quickly. A teenager means stubborn, stubborn means arguing won’t work, he needs to think about this bout of profiling before any more will work, scar means he’s more careful now than he used to be, gold all over his shirt means he’s important, uncle means he can be reasoned with, the other man means that he’s in charge, all of those together means wait until it’s safe and put handcuffs on him. In the FBI. But this isn’t the FBI, this is a world where twelve-year-olds can fly and Sokka is the oldest “warrior” in his tribe. Which means run away from the guy who can shoot fire, especially when you’re not armed with more than a knife.

Aang, beside him, nods slowly. “Let’s get out of here!”

He whistles, and a huge animal (that is apparently flying now) swings into view. The force of him (flying?) over shoves everyone to the ground, including the fire kid. Hotch scrambles to his feet, along with Aang, and they help Sokka and Katara up. The four of them climb onto Appa, but Katara slides right back off.

“You guys, go, make a lot of noise, but then circle back to come get me! I need to grab a few things!” she says.

“What do you have that is so important?” asks Sokka, but he nods and slides down next to her. “I’m going to help her carry stuff. Hotch, you go with Aang.”

“Let’s go!” says Aang. “Appa, yip yip!”

To Hotch’s immense surprise, they start flying. Apparently Appa’s (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6) six legs and tail are enough to keep them afloat, though Hotch personally thinks Aang is airbending them.

“Hey Hotch, why didn’t you let me go with them?” asks Aang. “I could have escaped from their ship, no problemo!”

Hotch frowns at the kid. “Remember when you were telling me about the Fire Nation, before we found out about the war?”

“They value honor?” asks Aang, not putting the pieces together.

“That guy was wearing gold. In my world, that means he’s important,” says Hotch. “And in my world, we don’t lie to important people.”

“But I would have gone with him! Just not for that long! It wasn’t a lie…”

“Aang, consider this: you go with him, and escape, and fly off into the sunset finding Katara a waterbending teacher. What’s to stop him from going back and attacking the village?”

“But he promised!”

“Just not for that long,” says Hotch, frowning at Aang. “I’m not saying it wasn’t a noble idea, but I don’t like the thought of leaving the village as a target. Better that he just see us as the threat.”

They both turn back, and see the fire boat behind them. “Do you think we’re far enough away?”

“Probably,” says Hotch. “I’ve got an idea. Aang, can you get up onto the top of the bow?”

“What’s that?”

“The tall bit at the front?” Hotch points.

“Definitely,” says Aang. His eyes glint into a grin.

“When I say go, fly up there, and then fly around a bit. Stay out of the way of any fire!”

“Yes Sifu Hotch,” says Aang. Hotch frowns, but ignores it.

“When I get back, you’re going to tell me all about what being an  _ Avatar _ is,” says Hotch. Aang chokes on his words. Hotch waits until he’s ready. “Go!”

“Appa, turn this way!” says Hotch, and he pulls on the reigns to take them at a 90 degree angle from where they were going. “Can you go down for me, I think we can sneak right next to them!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To be continued…  
> The Fire Nation is not, actually, that far from the North Pole, though the Capital would be further than where Katara and Zuko go to look for Yon Rha. I kept the sentence in there, though, because I figure Hotch only got a quick glimpse of the map. Plus, for all he knows, Zuko could be from the northern part of the Fire Nation…  
> Go look at the map on the Avatar Wiki. Or, if you’re me, spend half an hour trying to figure out if the Gaang ever went to an obscure Fire Nation place that I won’t have to deal with for like 50k words. Ya know. As you do.

**Author's Note:**

> Because obviously Hotch would just drop the truth like that.  
> So I just finished writing this chapter, and I have a vague idea for how the rest of it turns out. Expect relatively good times. Zuko will be here. Suki too! There will be good times. There will also be bad times. Comments and Kudos make me happy. I’ll see you when we’re out of exposition and we have to do some plot. I can’t wait.


End file.
